Maria Luísa Ferreira is passionate about impact entrepreneurship and social innovation and the benefits they can bring to society and the environment. She is herself an entrepreneur at heart having throughout her career developed many projects and initiatives that she believes will create a better world. She is regularly invited to speak at events on Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, to be a member of the Jury or resource boards of competitions on charity or social entrepreneurship, and to be a mentor or to join networks of experts. Luísa seats on the board of various organizations: She is the President of the Management Board of Jos et Mimieke Foundation, a member of Strategic Board of Iris since 2017, of the Advisory Board of Konexio, an NGO, since 2020, of the WorldPlaces Project since 2022 and a member of the Strategic Advisory board of Global Shapers Luxembourg since 2015. Luisa is since May 2022 the President of the General Council of the NOVA University Lisbon. Luísa joined the European Investment Bank in 1999. She is currently the Head of the Institute’s Social Programme where she notably created and developed the Social Innovation Tournament, a reference in the European Innovation eco-system. She started at the Institute when it was founded in 2012 and was responsible for the development and management of the Knowledge and Social Programmes. From 1999 to 2012 she was first a senior education economist, then an economic advisor in the Projects Directorate of the Bank, where she was responsible for the economic appraisal of projects and research work in the education (with special emphasis on the financing aspects of higher education) and social sectors. She was also Head of the EIB-Universities Research Action Programme. Between 2003 and 2004 she was a senior education analyst in the Education Directorate of the OECD, where she was responsible for a project on the role of education and training policy in promoting equity and social cohesion. Prior to joining the European Investment Bank, she worked as a Senior Human Resources Economist at the World Bank (1992-1999), mainly involved in project and research work on education and social protection issues in Eastern Africa and Latin America. She also held teaching positions in Portugal at the Portuguese Catholic University and at the NOVA University Lisbon and research positions in the USA. Luisa holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA).
